Family Photo
by Karin-sama
Summary: This is a Jilly-chan fic with the chibi-nekos. Today is the dreaded (fun) day of the annual family and friends photograph!


Family Photo  
By: Jillian Storm  
  
Disclaimer: Well, this is sort of a tangent to Karin-sama's chibi-neko story New Arrivals. She lets me borrow them now and again, but neither of us really created the concept of the GW boys. Dane-kun is kind of our own character, but I wouldn't claim to have any claims on Karin-sama or Hil-kun . . .  
  
Synopsis: Karin-sama braves the dangers surrounding an annual adventure -- the family and friends photograph.  
  
  
"Karin-sama!" Five different squeaks resounded along the staircase and the hallway as the chibi-nekos rushed toward Karin-sama's bedroom door.  
  
"Dane-kun's here!" Duo-chan chirped, reaching the door first and jumping up and down with excitement.  
  
Trowa-chan, reasoning things through, stepped around Duo-chan and politely knocked. "Karin-sama?" He asked, then, judging the lapse of five seconds sufficient time, knocked again.  
  
Heero-chan pulled his water gun and pointed it toward the doorknob. Intimidation wasn't one of his first choices against a door, but it ~was~ time to go.  
  
"Is it time to go?" Karin-sama read the little chibi's minds and pulled the door open quickly -- toppling over Duo and Wufei who had started to climb on top of each other to reach the doorknob. "Whoops." Karin-sama chuckled and picked up the two chibi-nekos. She had to admire how patiently they had been waiting for Dane-kun the past ten minutes. All of them had lined up by the front door in their finest clothes.  
  
She had taken advantage of the chibi-neko's stillness to dust and reorganize her room. Granted, Karin-sama never let her room get dusty or unorganized, but it didn't hurt to spruce things up occasionally. She had also alphabetized her Japanese literature section and that could be a little confusing from time to time.  
  
Dane-kun was leaning in the doorway. He'd taken a liking to leaning -- especially if he was leaning in one of Karin-sama's doorways. "Good to see ya, Karin-chan." Dane-kun smiled around his southern drawl.  
  
"You too." Karin-sama replied politely, yet curious since she'd just seen Dane-kun yesterday and the day before and the day before that. He was helping build a small fort for the chibi-nekos and came over most every afternoon to work on it. Karin-sama hadn't minded the idea of a new play area outside for the chibi-nekos since it had been lovely weather recently. However, Dane-kun's plans for the small fort somehow managed to evolve into something more intricate and complicated each time he picked up the saw or hammer. Having the chibi-nekos underfoot to give their own suggestions as to the fort's improvement hadn't helped finish the project much either. As long as no nekos got in Dane-kun's way as he was ~really~ doing construction, Karin-sama let the eager fellow do whatever he wanted.  
  
"Can I ride with Dane-kun?" Duo-chan pulled on Karin's skirt. It was a special skirt and he liked the way it felt -- especially smooth and shiny.  
  
"Me too." Heero-chan echoed. He usually didn't ask for much, but missions that involved riding in Dane-kun's truck were especially exciting.  
  
"Alright." Karin-sama glanced at the other three chibi-nekos who seemed more happy to ride with their own Karin-sama. "Don't distract Dane-kun while he's driving. We want to find this place without getting lost."  
  
"Remind me what we're doing again?" Quatre-chan asked as they walked to the car, raising his arms waiting for Karin-sama to pick him up.  
  
"Going to the photographer." Trowa-chan answered, inching up to Karin-sama's car as if he were a lion. Wufei-chan couldn't help but pounce the other and they rolled in the front lawn a little before Karin-sama spotted them.  
  
"Chibis!" Karin-sama sighed, and the two obediently climbed into their booster seats and waited to be buckled in. "Good thing you didn't get grass stains on your new shirts." She tried not to think about what might have happened. Rolling in the grass seemed more Duo-chan and Heero-chan's style.  
  
"Chibis!" Dane-kun scolded from the direction of his truck. Karin-sama looked over anxiously to see the taller man separating the two nekos in ~his~ charge as they rolled in the grass. "No grass stains." He reassured Karin-sama in a louder voice noticing her concern.  
  
"Whew." Karin-sama felt relieved. They just might make it to the photographer's in time.  
  
Following Dane-kun to the photographer's ranch hadn't been too difficult. Every time he turned around, deciding that he might rather go the opposite direction, Karin-sama had been able to turn her own car safely. She half wondered if Duo-chan had put Dane-kun up to a few of the extra unnecessary turns in the truck.  
  
"Hello. Hello." The grandfatherly gentleman greeted them all at the driveway. "I'm Raymond Peters, pleased to meet you. Your friends are already inside where I've set the backdrop for the indoor pictures."  
  
"Friends?" Duo-chan shouted excitedly and ran toward the ranch house. Karin-sama and Dane-kun followed the parade of galloping chibi-nekos into the house where the chibis noticeably transformed into their "indoor-walk" and lower voices.  
  
"See, Karin-sama," Dane-kun stretched, feeling a tad out of place in his dress shirt, "You've raised those chibi-nekos right."  
  
"Jilly-chan! Hil-kun!" Several different neko paws were pulling at skirts and pantlegs making sure that everyone got noticed by everyone else. Hil-kun had brought along part of her Kenshin-gumi, Ken-chan and Kaoru-chan.  
  
"We'll have to paste pictures of the other two in the corners of our family and friends photo," Hilary-kun said. "Regrettably the rest of my chibi-nekos both came down with a chibi-cold."  
  
"Oh no!" Karin-sama said glancing worriedly at her own nekos. "What happened? Did you give them tea and soup? Are they both in bed?"  
  
"Oh yes. I left them in bed with Trixie to watch over them," Hil-kun smiled. "Yahiko-chan jumped into the water fountain downtown and not to be outdone, Sano-chan jumped in right after him. They were a little wet just a bit too long, although I jumped in right after both of them to fish them out."  
  
"Jumped in?" Dane-kun whistled. "Folks with chibi-nekos have to be pretty active I guess."  
  
Jilly-chan laughed, "You should have seen them."  
  
"Places everyone." Mr. Peters asked, since he had finished fiddling with his enormous camera-lens.  
  
Trowa-chan immediately climbed up into Jilly-chan's arms. That seemed like the right thing to do, at least. Ken-chan and Kaoru-chan never left Hil-kun's shoulders so they stayed put. Karin-sama glanced over at the drapes and pillows and chairs and benches and curtains and her mind whirled.  
  
"Where?" Karin-sama said and Duo-chan echoed her in a sing-song voice. "Where? Where? Where?"  
  
"Well, let's try Karin-san in this chair here. . ." Mr. Peters pulled out a relatively comfy looking chair from the others and set it in front of the backdrop.  
  
"And Heero-chan here." Duo-chan pulled the other neko over and put him next to a toy rocking-horse. "And Wufei-chan here. . ." Duo-chan scampered over to pull Wu-chan toward the stuffed polar bear on the other side of the room.  
  
"Um, Duo-chan," Karin-sama held her head even as she sat in the chair Mr. Peters had told her to. "Why don't you come here?"  
  
Duo-chan obediently scampered into Karin-sama's lap, since that seemed like a great place to be as well. "I have room for you too, Quatre-chan." Karin-sama added, noticing that the little blonde neko was still firmly attached to her skirt, his big eyes surveying all the commotion.  
  
"Dane-san, you're tall." Mr. Peters pulled at his white beard, pondering the remaining nekos and people to be photographed. "I'll put you behind Karin-san. And Jillian-san and Hilary-san on either side. Great."  
  
Heero-chan and Wu-chan meanwhile had been rummaging around the extra props and found a bench they both liked. Together they pulled it next to Karin-sama and climbed up on their own.  
  
"Isn't that too tall?" Karin-sama chewed on her lip, beginning to worry.  
  
"Don't worry, Karin-sama." Wu-chan said quickly.  
  
"We're fine." Heero-chan reassured her.  
  
"Good. Good." Mr. Peters murmured to himself, adjusting and re-adjusting knobs and wheels on his camera. Karin-sama felt Quatre-chan give a big yawn and snuggle against her sleepily. Duo-chan began to fidget.  
  
"Maybe the red button will help?" Duo-chan suggested hoping to be helpful.  
  
"No," Heero-chan said. "The left knob."  
  
"Don't interrupt Mr. Peters." Karin-sama said instinctively, hoping that the older man would figure out what he was doing instead of casually, simply humming to himself.  
  
"Can I help?" Trowa-chan piped up.  
  
"I think I had a camera like that once." Dane-kun added his own two cents. "The lever behind the second switch was often off-kilter."  
  
"Oh boy." Hil-kun rolled her eyes. Ken-chan curled into a cozier ball and Kaoru-chan began to chew at the end of her pony-tail.  
  
"Oh, yes. You're right." Mr. Peters seemed to solve his problem, although it was unclear as to who's suggestion had saved the day. "Everyone, cheese."  
  
Karin-sama smiled simply, but she could feel a sweat drop forming as she heard several chibi-neko protests.  
  
"No. No. No." Duo-chan stood on Karin-sama's lap and scolded Mr. Peters in a rather cute impression of Karin-sama scolding chibi-nekos. "You must say, 'cabbage.' That's what I tell Karin-sama to say."  
  
"Mostly she just says, 'Smile.'" Trowa-chan pointed out.  
  
"I think he should say, 'Justice.'" Wu-chan corrected.  
  
"Hn." Heero-chan grunted, pulling out his water gun and squirting Dane-kun. The tall man playfully ran his fingers through Heero-chan's hair and the chibi-neko reluctantly purred with happiness.  
  
"Now look at Heero-chan's hair!" Karin-sama panicked and found a comb somewhere in her skirt's deep pocket. Heero-chan curled into a ball as Karin-sama tried to re-comb his hair.  
  
As Karin-sama leaned over to fix Heero-chan, Duo-chan, freed, jumped toward Jilly-chan and Tro-chan balancing neatly on the grinning girl's shoulder. Quatre-chan himself almost slipped off Karin-sama's silky smooth skirt.  
  
"Whoops." Karin-sama caught Quatre-chan neatly and he cuddled closer to her arm.  
  
By this point, Mr. Peters had given up on capturing the picture he'd been trying for earlier. "Should we do outside pictures first?" He suggested.  
  
"Er. . ." Hilary-kun shook her head.  
  
"They'd have too many places to run off to then." Karin-sama explained as she finished fixing Heero-chan's hair and Duo-chan jumped back into her lap.  
  
"Should I say 'Justice'?" Mr. Peters offered, trying to be helpful.  
  
"Just say 'Smile'." Karin-sama commanded, hoping to keep things peaceful again. She glanced at Ken-chan and Kaoru-chan who were dozing in Hilary's arms and wondered how those particular chibi-nekos always seemed to be peacefully sleepy. Then again, Yahiko-chan and Sano-chan were home in bed with chibi-colds.  
  
"Okay, then. . . Sm. . ." Mr. Peters started.  
  
"Don't forget that lever!" Dane-kun warned.  
  
"Uh, 'Smile'!"  
  
*click*  
  
Karin-sama held her breath during the picture, but the worst seemed to be over.  
  
"Now, let's try this again." Mr. Peters said optimistically.  
  
"Oh, no no." Karin-sama interrupted. "I'm sure that one will do just fine."  
  
***  
  
Jilly-chan finished fixing Tro-chan into his seat and then promised to visit him soon. "All done, Karin-sama." She added. "Now I'm going to go back with Hilary-kun and comfort Sano-chan and Yahiko-chan. They'll be excited to see the picture and I can't wait to see it either!"  
  
"I'll give you a call when it's done." Karin-sama agreed, then she backed out of Mr. Peters' driveway and began to follow Dane-kun back home.  
  
"Whee!" hollered Tro-chan, Quatre-chan, and Wu-chan from the backseat as Karin-sama had to make her first u-turn on the drive home.  
  
Karin-sama gripped the steering wheel tighter and rolled her eyes. She sighed wondering how in the world Dane-kun could get them lost on the way home.  
  
The end. 


End file.
